RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The debate over the rights of transgender athletes to compete in school sports intensified this week in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, as two Republican lawmakers called for the resignation of the Riverside Unified School District superintendent while LGBTQ+ advocates pleaded with the school board to “protect trans kids.”
During a packed five-hour meeting with crowds overflowing outside of the Riverside Adult School on Thursday night, speakers wearing “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts expressed outrage about transgender girls on sports teams and in locker rooms. Some echoed calls for Superintendent Renee Hill to resign and others urged the school board to defy state anti-discrimination laws. LGBTQ+ advocates, many sporting pink bandannas and waving Progress Pride flags, cheered when speakers called for an end to hate and harassment on campuses.
The controversy follows a lawsuit filed last month by two female students at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, alleging that a trans girl had ousted them from coveted spots on the cross-country team. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, also claims that when the girls protested what they perceived as the unfairness of the situation — by wearing the “Save Girls Sports” shirts that read, “It’s common sense — XX (doesn’t equal) XY,” school officials compared it to wearing a swastika in front of a Jewish student.
The suit claims that the district’s policies and practices “unfairly restrict” the girls’ “freedom of expression and deny them fair and equal access to athletic opportunities.” The suit was filed on behalf of two girls and their parents by Advocates for Faith & Freedom, which describes itself as “a nonprofit legal ministry dedicated to protecting religious liberty in the courts.”
Following an hour of public comment, school board member Noemi Hernandez Alexander thanked speakers for voicing their opinions but emphasized that the board is bound by state law.
“Lobby your state legislators,” she said. “They are the ones creating the laws that we are bound by.”
State and federal laws prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying of students based on their actual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, among other factors.
California education code explicitly says students must be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including sports teams and competitions, and use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity, regardless of the gender listed in their student records.
The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs most high school sports in California, permits transgender athletes to join teams based on their gender identity.
Although he did not comment on the specifics of the Riverside suit, a statement from the office of state Attorney General Rob Bonta said he is “committed to providing his unwavering support to ensure every student enjoys their right to an equal education free from discrimination and harassment.”
The fight in Riverside is one of several across California over trans women in high school and college sports. A Christian high school in Merced last month forfeited a volleyball match rather than play against a private school in San Francisco that had a trans student on the team, according to reporting in The San Jose Mercury News. At the college level, a former player and an assistant coach at San Jose State filed a lawsuit to try to ban a trans player from playing in a championship game. A judge later ruled the player could compete in the tournament.
Julianne Fleischer, legal counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom, acknowledged California law. But she said districts are still bound by federal civil rights law that protect people from sex-based discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding.
A Biden administration move to expand Title IX rules and provide more protections for LGBTQ+ students is being fought in court by conservative groups and at least 20 Republican-led states — and the administration of President-elect Donald Trump is expected to reverse the actions. Trump has also made references about his desire to ban transgender student athletes from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. He did not specify how he would do that.
During a news conference ahead of the school board meeting, Fleischer called on Trump and the next Congress to “restore Title IX as it was intended.”
“It’s very clear that Title IX was intended to protect biological women,” Fleischer said, “and we’ve seen a complete erasure of women in our sports and in our programs.”
Ryan Starling’s daughter Taylor is co-captain of King High’s cross-country team and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Taylor had won a spot at the Mt. SAC Invitational, but was knocked out of the “Team Sweepstakes” portion of the meet because the transgender runner posted faster times. Taylor thus “missed opportunities to compete at a high-profile meet, losing valuable chances for college recruitment and recognition,” according to the lawsuit.
Starling said it was “heartbreaking” to see his daughter train hard this season and then “have it stripped away from her.”
“All we’re asking for is equal treatment,” Starling said. “This is completely unfair.” Starling, who wore a hat reading “Support your local girl dad,” added that his daughter bested the transgender athlete by seven seconds in a subsequent meet.
According to the lawsuit, Taylor and the other plaintiff decided to protest at the Mt. SAC meet by wearing “Save Girls Sports” T-shirts.
The lawsuit says that the two students who wore the shirts are religious Christians, and that the shirts were “intended to express their religious viewpoint and to advocate for the protection of fair competition for girls based on biological sex.” They also claim that “the messages on the shirts were not directed toward any teammate or student or individual.”
When they wore the shirts to cross-country practice on Nov. 1, the school’s athletic director told them the shirts created a hostile environment and that they had to remove them or cover them.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the school district’s action restricted the students’ right to free speech and is unconstitutional. It also asks the court to rule that the school district failed to provide equal treatment for girls in sport, a violation of Title IX, and it seeks monetary damages.
At the board meeting, several called on school board members to “grow a spine” and push back against state laws permitting transgender athletes to compete. They insisted their concerns weren’t rooted in bigotry, but in a desire to protect young women’s safety and their rights to compete on an equal playing field. At least one speaker posited that there should be a separate sports category for trans athletes.
In a statement, the Riverside Unified School District said it is “committed to ensuring that each student in our schools is safe and that students exercising their 1st Amendment rights, within the existing limits, will be allowed to do so.”
“At our district, we uphold students’ rights to free speech at school and encourage them to express their perspectives in a respectful and meaningful way, however, at the same time, we recognize that there are some limits to free speech in schools, including speech that constitutes a true threat, causes a material disruption to the learning environment, or infringes on the rights of other students,” the district said.
“Student safety remains our No. 1 priority and while we continue to focus on student learning, we are taking steps to minimize disruptions likely to arise from public attention on this issue,” the district said.
Meanwhile, in Riverside on Thursday, advocates gathered at the Inland Empire LGBTQ+ Center. Daisy Gardner, outreach director of Our Schools USA, read a statement from a parent of one of the transgender athletes at King High. Behind her, LGBTQ+ advocates held signs reading, “Riverside Against Bullying,” and “Let All Kids Play.”
“The anti-trans movement at King has gotten out of control,” Gardner said on behalf of the parent. “This is not about saving girls sports. This has become a bullying campaign aimed at our most marginalized and vulnerable communities.”
The student, a minor who is trying to remain anonymous, “loves playing chess, doing math, and above all, she loves running,” Gardner said on behalf of the parent. “She has goals and dreams, just like any other teenager out there. But it’s really hard to focus on your goals and dreams when you don’t feel safe.”
One adult advocate, Brianna Kick, said she has a friend who is a senior at King High and a transgender athlete on another school team who had found friends and belonging. But when the cross country controversy erupted, “that was ripped away from her,” Kick said. She said the friend is now scared to go to school and her attendance has dropped.
Several LGBTQ+ students told board members they feel unsafe in Riverside Unified schools and decried bullying on campuses. Their parents and allies called on the board to take a firm stance against harassment. With less than 2% of youth ages 13-17 identifying as transgender in California, one questioned whether trans athletes reasonably pose a threat on sports teams.
Ahead of the Riverside school board meeting, GOP Assemblymember Bill Essayli called for the resignation of Riverside Unified’s. Hill.
“The school is providing what is perceived as preferential treatment to a trans student over the girls on these sports teams,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “At the end of the day, the superintendent is responsible for this high school, and they’re responsible for the culture at the school, and that’s the reason we believe there needs to be some accountability and that she should resign.”
He argued that school officials had discriminated against the girls on the varsity cross-country team.
“They could have allowed the trans student to participate on the team, but the girls should not have been displaced from the varsity team,” Essayli said. “Girls, women have the right to be champions. And they’re taking that away from them by allowing trans students who have biological advantages.”
Last year, Essayli co-sponsored a bill that would have required school employees to notify parents within three days if their child identified as transgender at school. Critics argued the bill would out and potentially endanger trans children, while violating student privacy protections under California law. The bill died in committee.
The state enacted a law in July that prohibits schools from mandating that teachers notify families about student gender identity changes.
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(Staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.)
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